The collective Rua Das Pretas, led by the Brazilian composer and guitarist Pierre Aderne—a pioneer of contemporary and world music who has collaborated with internationally renowned artists such as Seu Jorge, Melody Gardot, Tito Paris, Sara Tavares and Madeleine Peyroux, will unveil the album “Povo Brasileiro” (Aderne’s 12th album) which is due for release on 10 April 2026 on CD and digitally via Harmonia / The Orchard. This album, along with the short film of the same name, will be presented on Tuesday 12 May 2026 at 8.00 pm on the stage of the Studio de L’Ermitage, during a special launch concert.

Povo Brasileiro, the new album accompanied by a short film by Pierre Aderne and the Rua Das Pretas collective, takes a key text (by Darcy Ribeiro) to explore what the Atlantic has wrought – peoples, languages, divisions, movements – without resorting to nostalgia. Povo Brasileiro transforms Darcy Ribeiro’s classic into a sonic and narrative tapestry. Recorded at the Casa Museu Darcy Ribeiro (Maricá, Rio de Janeiro) – in the house designed by Niemeyer and inspired by Tupinambá villages – the project brings together musicians from Brazil, Cape Verde and Portugal. A contemporary journey through Atlantic memories, where aesthetics serve a purpose: to articulate identity without freezing it, memory without turning it into a museum piece. The album stems from a political question, not from exoticism. Darcy Ribeiro conceives of Brazil as a country forged through violence, forced encounters, resistance and reconstruction. Pierre Aderne translates this tension into music: rather than “telling the story of Brazil”, he brings the frictions to the fore – what the Atlantic has shattered and what it has created. Rua Das Pretas functions as a living cultural space: the Cape Verdean singer Zulu (Boa Vista), the Portuguese fado singer Ana Margarida Prado, the multi-instrumentalist Nilson Dourado (São Paulo / Sintra), the flautist Letícia Malvares (Rio / Madrid), and musicians from Cordão do Boitatá (Kiko Horta and Carlinhos 7 cordas), amongst others. Here, styles do not merely adorn; they engage in dialogue. Samba, fado, Afro-Brazilian
music and song respond to one another like contradictory arguments, then weave themselves back together.

 

Rua das Preta (background)

Founded in Rio de Janeiro two decades ago, the project moved to Lisbon around fifteen years ago. Initially an intimate gathering, it has become a major hub of the Portuguese-speaking music scene, frequented by artists such as Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Ana Moura, Carminho, Tito Paris, José Eduardo Agualusa, Melody Gardot and Sara Tavares, amongst others. Tours in major venues across Portugal (Coliseu, CCB…) and a three-season music series on RTP1.

 

Pierre Aderne (bio)

Pierre Aderne & Melody Gardot

Before the creation of Rua das Pretas, Pierre Aderne was already a pioneer in contemporary and world music. Co-author of Mina Do Condómino, Seu Jorge’s first hit, he has released an album with a cumulative 300 million streams and several tracks played on French radio, performed as a duet with Melody Gardot. His album Sunset in the Blue includes tracks such as It’s Magnifique, From Paris With Love, If You Love Me and Um Beijo. He also undertook a summer tour of Japan in 2016, with concerts at Billboard Live in Tokyo and Osaka, at the Blue Note in Nagoya, as well as collaborations at L’Olympia. Born in Toulouse (France), to a Brazilian mother and a Portuguese father; grew up between Rio de Janeiro
and Brasília. 11 albums released, including Doces Cariocas (2009) – Best Album at the Prêmio de Música Brasileira — Mapa dos Rios (with Moacyr Luz, 2023), and the albums Rua Das Pretas (Lisboa Edition, 2018; Um copo de fado, dois de bossa, 2021).


Collaborations / duets : Seu Jorge, Melody Gardot, Tito Paris, Sara Tavares, Madeleine Peyroux, among others.
With Melody Gardot: Pierre Aderne co-wrote the songs C’est magnifique, From Paris With Love, If You Love Me and Um Beijo with Melody Gardot for the album Sunset In The Blue … This long-standing collaboration between Melody and Pierre began in 2014 with the duets Limoeiro and Melodia e Letra, written and performed by the pair.


Short film Rua das Pretas – Povo Brasileiro
Filmed between Rio de Janeiro and Lisbon.

  • Director: Pierre Aderne
  • Screenplay: Jorge Araújo (Cape Verdean writer and journalist).
  • Directors of Photography (DOP): Daniel Lobo, Markão Oliveira, Manuel Águas, Tito Gonzalez Garcia,
    Samir Abujanra, Carlos Mendes Pereira.
  • Editing, motion design and generative AI: Edson Rosas.
  • Synopsis: a symbolic reinterpretation of the Atlantic routes – the “washing” of the caravels upon their return to Rio, this time performed by musicians from three continents united by the Portuguese language (Brazilian and African).